


Sakura's Groundhog Day

by tabjoy13



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Bonding (Naruto), Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28836801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabjoy13/pseuds/tabjoy13
Summary: Sakura growth story. This is a loop story that focuses mostly on Sakura. Cross posted on FF.net.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	1. Day 1.0

There went her alarm. Sakura Haruno groaned, rolled over, and slammed her hand onto the jangling alarm clock. She dressed with care as she did every morning. The kunoichi wanted to look her best for Sasuke. She spent particular time with her hair, the long pink locks hung past her shoulders. She brushed her mane one hundred times, re-parting it three times, and fluffed it up as much as possible.

“There,” she said to herself. She observed her hair and figure in the mirror from every angle, winking at her reflection occasionally.

She looked at her clock and yelped at the time. Taking one last look in the mirror, she hurried out of her house. She quickly called goodbye to her parents as she went. She didn’t hear their responses since she was already out the door. 

Sakura walked down the streets of the Leaf Village. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. The kunoichi didn’t notice. She was in a rush to get to the training ground. She had to get there before Naruto did so she’d have some time alone with Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei would not be there for hours but Sasuke usually showed up early to do some extra training. That’s when Sakura would strike. She smiled to herself and her smile grew wider when she saw the flower shop ahead and to the left. Ino was putting some displays out front.

“Good morning Ino,” Sakura said too sweetly.

“Good morning Sakura,” Ino replied coldly. “Going to the training grounds?”

“How did you guess?” Sakura said with mock surprise. “I’m meeting Sasuke there for some practice before the rest of the team arrives. It’ll be just the two of us.”

Ino growled. “You just wait Sakura. You may be on Sasuke’s team, but it’s me he’ll fall for! How can you expect him to be interested in someone who’s on his team? That he sees get dirty and sweaty every day? Ew.”

Sakura started to growl back in anger.

“I mean, he probably just sees you as ‘one of the boys’. I’ll always look perfect when he’s around.” Ino winked. “Whereas you’ll look like a slob.” The girl giggled, heading back into the store. “Enjoy your training.”

Sakura stomped down the street, her anger rising. _I’ll beat that Ino pig no matter what! I’ll just have to take extra care not to get sweaty during training. I can’t let Sasuke see me like that._

Her anger had dissipated by the time she arrived at the training ground. As she had predicted, Sasuke was already there building chakra. She sat down cross-legged next to him. “Good morning Sasuke,” she said brightly.

“Hm,” Sasuke responded, not opening his eyes.

“How was your night?” She pressed.

“Fine,” he said shortly, still not opening his eyes.

“My evening was terrible. My mom told me I had to clean my room, like I was a little kid or something. I tried to tell her that I was a genin now and that she couldn’t boss me around. Then she told me go to my room, completely ignoring what I was saying. My dad didn’t back me up at all. He said what my mom said, goes. I couldn’t believe him. I knew she wouldn’t understand but at least he-.”

Sasuke’s eyebrows twitched and he opened his eyes. “Could you be quiet?”

Sakura immediately went silent, her wide eyes on her crush. He was looking at her now. Now they could really talk and share their feelings.

“Sakura!” a voice called across the grass. Naruto had arrived.

“Oh no,” Sakura groaned. “He’s early.”

“Sakura,” Naruto said again, running up. “How was your night?”

“None of your business Naruto,” she snapped. “Why can’t you just be quiet so Sasuke and I can talk?”

Naruto looked hurt but Sakura didn’t notice. Sasuke had stood up. “Oh, ‘morning Sasuke,” Naruto muttered.

“Hm,” Sasuke responded. “I suppose Kakashi is going to be late again.”

“Probably,” Sakura said, latching onto the longest sentence Sasuke had uttered so far. “He’s so annoying that way. I can’t believe him sometimes. How does he expect us to take him seriously?”

“You’re a fool if you don’t take him seriously,” Sasuke said shortly.

This made Sakura clam up. Naruto tried talking to her again but she shut him down. The three of them sat in silence, waiting for their sensei. At last, one hour later, Kakashi appeared.

“You’re late!” Naruto and Sakura chorused. Sasuke said nothing.

“Sorry I’m late,” Kakashi responded, scratching the back of his head. “But the road was flooded, so I had to help ferry these schoolchildren across so they didn’t drown.”

“Lair,” Naruto and Sakura chorused.

“It hasn’t rained in weeks,” Sasuke muttered.

“Anyway, I thought we’d spar today,” Kakashi said brightly. “Sakura, you’ll be with me and Naruto and Sasuke, you two can spar.”

Sakura groaned inwardly. Sasuke usually beat her quickly and Naruto went easy on her. Kakashi pushed her though so she’ll probably start getting sweaty and gross. She couldn’t look like that in front of Sasuke. Sakura opened her mouth to protest the suggested arrangement but Kakashi wasn’t looking at her. She saw that he was stock-still, half turned away from her, staring into the woods. She looked over at Naruto and Sasuke and they were frozen, looking between their sensei and the woods. Naruto’s eyes were wide but Sasuke’s eyes were narrowed, trying to see what Kakashi saw.

“Run, now,” Kakashi said tightly, withdrawing a kunai from his pouch.

“What?” Naruto said, confused. Sasuke was tugging on his teammate’s jumpsuit, pulling him toward the center of the village.

“Sensei what is it?” Sakura asked bewildered.

A dozen shuriken shot out of the woods. Kakashi jumped in front of Sakura, who had frozen in fear. He deflected four kunai, then grabbed Sakura’s arm. “Run!” he shouted to the boys as he pulled her along. Naruto and Sasuke had dropped to the ground to avoid the shuriken but were now up and running. Kakashi followed them, releasing Sakura now that she was with the program. The jonin turned around to deflect a fresh volley of throwing stars.

They soon reached some buildings near the grounds. Sasuke and Naruto jumped behind a low wall. Kunai landed on and shot over the wall just as they disappeared. Sakura was running past a house on her right when Kakashi, who was right behind her, grabbed her arm again and threw her behind the corner of the house. Kunai whizzed by.

Sakura got up, rubbing her knees, there were grass stains on her dress now. “Sensei what was that for,” she said but shut up when she looked up. Kakashi was flat against the wall, peaking around the corner of the building. A kunai stuck out of his left shoulder.

Sakura gasped, “sensei you’re bleeding.”

“I imagine so,” Kakashi responded. He returned some shuriken at the unknown enemy and Sakura heard metal meet metal.

She could see Sasuke and Naruto across from them, throwing their own shuriken from behind their wall toward the enemy. A ninja dressed all in black approached their position from the side, flanking them. “Sensei,” she gasped.

“I see him,” Kakashi said. He took aim and threw his kunai expertly at the enemy. It struck him square in the neck. He dropped like a stone. Sasuke whipped his head around to see the enemy fall. He turned to see where the kunai had come from and spotted Kakashi and Sakura behind the house. He almost smiled, then his eyes widened and his jaw went slack. He shouted something that Sakura couldn’t hear. A kunai with a paper bomb struck the ground near Kakashi’s feet. In an instant Kakashi turned around, grabbed Sakura to shield her, and tried to leap away. Too late.

The bomb went off. Sakura was deafened by the blast. A ringing began in her ears. She coughed as her lungs filled with dust and blinked to clear her vision. Something heavy was pinning her to the ground. She twisted her head around to see what it was. It was Kakashi. Dark blood trickled down his face from under his headband. He was completely still.

Sakura stared. “Kakashi-sensei?” The silver-haired ninja did not move. He did not scratch the back of his head and apologize for landing on her. He did not look up with an eye-smile and tell her everything was alright. “Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura cried more earnestly. The ringing in her ears took up her entire world, that and her sensei’s bloodied, unmoving form. She tried to wriggle out from underneath his dead weight but gave up when she felt the skin of her legs tear. Warm blood meandered down her calves and ankles. 

Suddenly a new thought struck her and in a panic she cried out, “Sasuke! Naruto!” She cursed her own stupidity a moment later. She couldn’t hear their replies, even her own calls were a muffled murmur in her ringing ears. Worse still, she’d given away her and Kakashi’s position. This thought gave her a boost of adrenalin and she attempted to pull herself free with new vigor. As she pulled, she felt the debris making long scratches across her legs. She didn’t care. She needed to find Sasuke and Naruto. She had to figure out what was wrong with Kakashi.

At last she pulled herself free. Standing and turning around, she could see that wooden beams and other pieces of the house had also fallen on top of her and her sensei. Kakashi was lying face down, covered up to his waist in pieces of the building that they’d used as cover. There was dust and bits of lumber strewn everywhere. The wounds on her legs stung as she knelt by his head.

“Kakashi-sensei?” she shook his shoulders a bit to try and wake him up. “Sensei, we need to find Sasuke and Naruto.” The jonin did not move. “Sensei this isn’t funny,” Sakura said, getting angry, “we can’t stay here.”

Sakura paled, “sensei?” She shook his shoulders again, “Kakashi-sensei?”

As if in a dream, Sakura removed one hand from Kakashi’s shoulder and reached out to gingerly touch his neck. She waited, moved her fingers and waited again. She moved her fingers to a different part of his neck, then another, again and again, she waited less and less each time, frantically now, searching for a sign of life.

They’d all learned to take each other’s pulses in the academy, she’d never had this much trouble before. Finally, desperate, she put her ear on Kakashi’s back and listened. With each passing second of silence her panic grew more pronounced. “No,” she whispered, looking at her sensei’s still form, “it’s not possible. It’s not possible. It’s not-” a half scream half sob escaped her throat.

“Sasuke!” she screamed at the top of her voice. Her hearing was coming back now and her own strangled cry split her ears but she didn’t care. “Naruto! Please! Sensei he’s-.” She choked off, unable to say the word.

“Over there,” she heard. Three men appeared from out of the settling dust, all of them were dressed in black. Sakura pulled out a kunai and backed away but they weren’t interested in her. “I don’t believe it,” the first man said. He approached first and was looking at Kakashi’s body or more specifically, his silver hair. “You got the copy-ninja.”

“What?” the second man said, joining the first in looking at Kakashi. The second man said a string of words that Sakura had never heard but she could guess the meaning of. “How much is he worth?”

“Who cares what he’s worth, he’s not what we’re here for,” the first man said.

“Are you crazy?” the second one said. “There’s a small fortune lying right here.” 

“Let me see,” the third man said, shoving the other two aside. He ripped Kakashi’s headband off, pulled his limp head up by his hair, and ripped his left eyelid open. The third man whistled, “it really is him.” But that was drowned out by Sakura’s scream

“Don’t touch him,” Sakura cried angrily. She brandished her kunai and charged at the third man. The first man intercepted her, caught her wrist, and swung her around, throwing her back the way she’d come.

“I can’t believe you got him with a paper bomb Ko,” the first one said as if nothing had happened. He wanted to enjoy this moment.

“Well,” Ko said boastfully. “My paper bombs are very effective.”

“Shut up, both of you,” the third man said, standing up. He was looking at Sakura. “The only reason you got him was probably because he was protecting this girl.” He followed the blood trail from underneath Kakashi’s body to Sakura’s legs with his eyes.

“But why would he protect her?” the first man asked, casually dodging the kunai that Sakura had just thrown at him.

“She’s probably his student, like those other two we killed just now,” the third man said. “Or just a fellow ninja, who cares? This village is more focused on protecting their ninja than their land. Kill her and let’s get what we came for. Hosho, seal his body. It’ll give us time to figure out who’ll pay the most for it.”

Ko threw a kunai at Sakura and she dodged it. However, it had just been a diversion. Ko was behind her instantly and Sakura felt cold steel slide across her throat. 


	2. Day 1.1

Sakura’s alarm clock jangled on her nightstand but her screaming drowned it out. Her mother and father rushed in. The pink-haired girl kept screaming and wouldn’t stop, even when her mother tried slapping her in the face. The screams dissolved into wails, the wails into sobbing. Tears streamed out of Sakura’s eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably. Their daughter was babbling through her sobs but it took them quite some time to make anything out of what she was saying. Eventually they picked out, “Kakashi-sensei”, “Sasuke”, and “Naruto”.

Frightened and concerned, Sakura’s father threw on some clothes and took off into the street to find the three ninja. Naruto and Sasuke had been easy to find. It was early in the morning and they were both still at home. He asked them if they’d please go to his house and visit Sakura, something was terribly wrong. Naruto bounded off without another word but Sasuke could see the concern on the man’s face and wanted more information first. Kakashi was not at home but after much searching, the panicking father found the jonin at the memorial stone.

Naruto and Sasuke weren’t exactly sure what to do. Sakura was hugging her knees, rocking back and forth on her bed. Her mother rubbed her back, making a soothing ‘shh’ noise as she did so. Sakura didn’t seem to notice however. Her eyes were red and swollen but tears continued to leak out of them, staining her cheeks. Her hands trembled if they were pulled away from her knees so they just left her alone.

When Kakashi walked into the room Sakura looked up suddenly, her bloodshot eyes wide. “Sakura,” Kakashi said, quickly crossing the room to where she sat on her bed. He didn’t quite make it, however. Sakura stood up very suddenly, launching herself at the jonin and hugging him tightly. She buried her face in the shoulder pad of his vest and began to cry anew.

Kakashi froze for a second in surprise and then he visibly forced himself to relax, slowly putting his arms around the sobbing girl. He started guiding her back to the bed, she wouldn’t let go of him, and when she stumbled he simply picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He set her down and again tried to gently pry her from his person. She still refused to let go. He worried that he’d hurt her if he tried forcing it any more so he gave up and held her while she cried. Sakura’s mother had stood to give Kakashi sitting room on the bed and joined her husband in the doorway.

Eventually Sakura’s sobs quieted once more and she started muttering something. Kakashi could just make out, “you’re alive, you’re alive, you’re alive.”

Kakashi’s eyebrows furrowed. He looked at Sakura’s parents. “What exactly happened?”

“We don’t know,” Sakura’s mother said. “We were getting ready this morning and we just heard her screaming in her room. She was saying something but all we could make out was your name and that of her teammates. We thought maybe she’d just had a nightmare but she won’t calm down.”

Kakashi nodded and looked at his worried student. She was shaking just the tiniest bit. The swollenness of her eyes made her look like a raccoon. “Could you get her a glass of water?” Kakashi asked, unsure of what else to do. Her mother nodded and hurried away. She seemed to be back in seconds with a full glass of water in her hand. Kakashi motioned with his head that Sasuke should take it.

The boy did and he said, holding it out to the girl, “Sakura? Sakura you need to drink something.”

Sakura tore her eyes away from Kakashi and looked at Sasuke, then at the glass in his nervous hand. Sakura had never fallen apart like this in battle and it scared Sasuke a little to see her like this. Sakura nodded slowly, sniffing, and took the glass with one hand, the other was still tightly grasping Kakashi’s vest. The glass shook in her trembling fingers and Kakashi helped her guide it to her mouth. She took a few sips at first then, realizing how dehydrated she was, she continued with generous gulps. When the glass was empty, Kakashi took it from her and handed it back to Sasuke.

Sakura, apparently exhausted from drinking the water, slumped into Kakashi’s shoulder again, weeping quietly. A moment later she said very softly only to him, “sensei, I’m going to be sick.”

“Naruto,” Kakashi said urgently, “bucket, now."

Naruto looked around quickly, grabbed the waste basket under Sakura’s desk, and handed it to Kakashi. Thankfully it had a plastic liner in it. Kakashi handed the basket to Sakura just in time. She took it and he quickly pulled her hair out of the way as she began to retch. All the water she drank reappeared and then Sakura dry-heaved for a few tense seconds. Kakashi looked up at Sakura’s stricken parents. “We’re going to the hospital, now.” Kakashi stood cradling Sakura, trash basket and all, in his arms.

Sakura’s parents nodded mutely and followed Team Seven to the ninja hospital. Kakashi finally got his student to let go of him so she could lie in a hospital bed. He was still right by her side though. “Sakura,” Kakashi said, “they’re going to give you an IV to can get some fluid back into you and something to help you sleep. We’ll be right here so don’t worry.”

Sakura nodded mutely. The longer the boys were with her the more she started to think, _maybe it was just a dream. But it was so real._ As Sakura drifted off, an ANBU teleported into the room and began speaking with Kakashi. Kakashi started and then looked at Sakura as her vision blurred and she drifted away.


	3. Day 1.2

Sakura’s alarm clock jangled next to her head. Her eyes popped open. She sat up quickly and looked around. She threw the blankets off of her and looked at her legs. _No lacerations._

She jumped out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She reached up with her hand and touched her face. _No puffy eyes._

_It was all just a dream,_ Sakura thought, _a twisted, multi-layered dream._

The young kunoichi looked at the calendar, _and naturally I dreamed that it was today…twice…because I knew that that was tomorrow. I think._ She frowned and then shook her head. _This is nonsense. I’ve got to get a grip._

Sakura dressed and hurried toward the front door. She stopped and looked at her parents in the kitchen. Her mother looked up and smiled, “are you off to meet your team or do you have time for breakfast?”

“Breakfast would be great,” Sakura said. She smiled and joined them. _Just a dream._

After Sakura had finished breakfasting with her parents, she headed to the training ground. _Dream or not, I was completely helpless. I need to be able to help in a crisis, not create more of a problem._

When Sakura arrived at the usual training ground, Sasuke was already there as she had expected. What she hadn’t expected was for him to be sitting cross-legged on the grass with his eyes closed. He was building chakra the same way he had been the day before. _No, in the dream. It was just a dream. Sasuke does this all the time._

She sat down next to him and started building some chakra herself. It’d been awhile since she’d done the exercise. Sasuke cracked an eye open at her. She had her eyes closed and was focusing on her task. Sasuke sighed in relief and closed his eye.

Naruto soon arrived but instead of calling out to Sakura he joined them, sitting down with his legs crossed.

When Kakashi arrived an hour late he found his genin working away without him. “Hm, maybe I shouldn’t have shown up at all,” he said. All three sets of eyes snapped open.

“You’re late!” Naruto said. Sakura didn’t feel comfortable doing it with him. That’s what she had done in her dream.

“Sorry I’m late,” Kakashi responded, scratching the back of his head. “But the road was flooded, so I had to help ferry these schoolchildren across so they didn’t drown.”

Sakura’s jaw dropped. As she stared at him Kakashi caught her look. “Everything okay Sakura?”

_Don’t panic,_ she thought, _sometimes he reuses excuses. I must have just heard that one before and incorporated it into my dream._

“Sakura?” Kakashi asked when she didn’t respond.

She shook herself, “sorry sensei, I was just thinking about how you’ve used that one before.”

Kakashi’s face took on a strange look. Sakura squinted at his mask. _Is sensei pouting?_

“He hasn’t,” Naruto grumbled, “but it’s still a lie.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke said. “It hasn’t rained in weeks.”

“He hasn’t-?” Sakura said slowly. Then she looked at the forest, where the ninja in black had come from before.

Kakashi frowned and followed her gaze. He looked back at her, “are you sure you’re alright-?” He froze, his attention snapping back to the forest.

That was all the confirmation Sakura needed. “Run!” She yelled at her teammates and took off toward the village center. Naruto and Sasuke, confused, chased after her.

“Sakura, what’s this all about?” Naruto called. Then he heard metal on metal and turned mid-stride. Kakashi was fighting a dozen black-clad ninja in the clearing and more were appearing. “Wha-? Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto started to turn back.

“No!” Sakura cried, pulling on his arm. “We only get in his way!”

“Maybe you two do,” Sasuke said, pulling shuriken from his pouch and running back toward Kakashi.

“Sasuke no!” Sakura screamed.

Kakashi turned and looked toward his students at Sakura’s cry. He paid for it with a kick to his back. He moved with the roll, punching one of the enemy who wasn’t expecting the sudden redirection. The jonin flipped up into the air to avoid the enemy’s kunai, throwing a few of his own. Two ninja in black fell to the ground with kunai in their chests. Upon landing on the ground once more, Kakashi spun to avoid a kick. He grasped the man’s foot and threw him into two other ninja who just came running up. Chidori burst to life and Kakashi ran at three of the enemy in a row, striking each in the heart as he passed.

At this point Sasuke had joined the fight. He threw several shuriken and shot a small fireball at a third enemy ninja who was approaching. “Sasuke,” Kakashi said while trading blows with a kunai-wielding enemy. “Go get reinforcements. Don’t stay here, I can handle this.” A kunai with a paper bomb flew toward Kakashi’s head. He spun, caught the kunai, and launched it back at the sender. It exploded mid-air, killing three of the intruding ninja.

Sakura watched it all, trembling. _It was real. It was real. Why is my dream real?!_ Naruto ground his teeth and joined the fray. Sakura did nothing to stop him. She was closing her eyes, willing it away. 

“Just thought you could use the help,” Sasuke bantered back at Kakashi. He didn’t see the enemy approaching from behind him.

Naruto jumped in, slamming his fist into the face of the ninja flanking Sasuke. “Don’t forget about me.”

“Get out of here idiot,” Sasuke said. “You heard Kakashi, go get help.”

“I heard him say that to you,” Naruto said, fighting one of the few remaining enemy with a kunai. “Not me.”

“Would both of you just get out of there?!” Sakura cried. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. Before she could even draw a breath, something flew past her head and a man fell dead directly behind her, a kunai handle sticking out of his face.

Kakashi threw a handful of shuriken at a black-clad ninja heading for Naruto and the battle was over. There had been thirty of the mystery ninja in all. Kakashi pulled his headband back down, not remembering when he’d uncovered his left eye. He was spattered in blood. After giving Naruto and Sasuke a once over, he began to walk toward Sakura. More Leaf ninja were arriving and they surveyed the carnage.

An ANBU with a leopard mask teleported next to Kakashi. “Everyone alright?” he asked.

“Fine,” Kakashi responded. His eye was on Sakura though. She was still shaking. “That one,” he pointed at the last ninja he’d taken down, “should still be alive.”

The ANBU nodded, the man was instantly gone. The body of the enemy ninja Kakashi had pointed out was suddenly missing also.

Kakashi walked over to Sakura and looked down at her. “We need to talk,” her sensei said quietly. Naruto and Sasuke had joined them.

“What do we need to talk about sensei?” Naruto asked.

“Sakura knew they were coming,” Sasuke said, staring at his teammate in disbelief.

“I thought it was a dream,” Sakura said. She was shaking harder than ever.

“Not here,” Kakashi muttered so only they could hear. He took off at a run toward Hokage Tower, setting a hard pace. His three students followed closely behind him. 

“Now Sakura,” Kakashi said. “I want you to start from the beginning. We need to know everything.”

Team seven was in the Hokage’s office. They stood before Lord Third’s desk. The old man occupied the chair behind it, smoking his pipe.

“I thought it was a dream,” Sakura began. “It had to be.”

“What was a dream?” the Third pressed.

“I dreamed today already happened. Twice actually,” Sakura began slowly. “This is the third time I’ve lived through this day now.”

There was silence in the room. Kakashi added weight to her statement with his own observations, “she knew things that she couldn’t have possibly known.” He remembered her claiming that he’d previously used the excuse for his lateness that he’d just thought up that morning. Then he remembered her reaction when Naruto had said that it _was_ new. “She knew that the enemy ninja were going to attack and when. But it also surprised her, like she didn’t really expect it to happen. Lord Third she’s not a spy.”

Naruto looked between Kakashi and the Third Hokage. “Of course she isn’t a spy!” Naruto shouted.

“We have to consider it as a possibility Naruto,” the Third said. “However, stranger things have happened. Jutsu gone wrong, time distortion, the will of the gods, whatever it is that’s happened to Sakura is out of our realm of understanding.”

“Wait,” Sasuke said, “are you saying it’s more likely that Sakura’s experiencing some sort of time distortion rather than her being a spy?” Everyone stared at him. “Makes sense.” They all nodded.

“Maybe we can use this to our advantage,” the Third said. “Sakura, what happens after the first attack? Are there more enemy ninja? Where do they come from? What do they want?”

“I don’t know,” Sakura said shuddering suddenly. “I didn’t see them the entire second day.”

“What happened the second-?” Naruto began but Kakashi cut him off with a hand.

Sakura kept looking at Kakashi and then at the ground. Tears were forming in her eyes. “Maybe we can talk about this a little later?” The Third said gently.

Sakura bit her lip and shook her head. “No, this is important and there may not be a later. The first day after,” she looked at Kakashi again and stifled a sob, “after they attacked. They’d killed Kakashi-sensei. They were going to take his body and,” she sobbed out the last part, “sell it”. She wiped her eyes hurriedly, trying to get the rest out before she lost control of herself.

Naruto’s jaw was slack. He looked from Kakashi to Sakura and back again. Sasuke glanced at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. It made the genin nervous that his sensei didn’t look even mildly surprised at this news of his dead body being sold. What was even more alarming was that Lord Third was nodding understandingly.

“And the one said that collecting a bounty wasn’t what they were here for,” Sakura said. “I don’t know if they attacked again because they killed me too.” Sakura hid her face in her hands, her hair falling forward to hide her further.

Kakashi knelt next to her and put a hand on her shaking back. She threw her arms around him, a gesture all too familiar to her now, and began to sob. Kakashi, unused to this, almost fell backward in surprise. Then he slowly put his arms around his crying student. Naruto tentatively put out a hand and patted Sakura’s back. Sasuke said, “it’s alright Sakura, we won’t let that happen.”

“Yeah,” Naruto said. “You get some rest and we’ll take care of them.”

“No,” Sakura said looking up, eyes wild. “I can’t go to sleep. If I do this day will start over again.”

“Then we’ll stay up with you,” Kakashi suggested. He looked at his other two genin.

“That’s right,” Naruto said. “We’re a team.”

Sasuke hummed in agreement.

Kakashi took his team out for dinner that night. He figured jokingly in his head that if the day was going to start over anyway, he wouldn’t lose any money. The jonin explained to her parents that Sakura had had a trying day and wanted her team with her. Seeing the stricken look on Sakura’s face, her parents couldn’t help but agree to let them stay until their daughter fell asleep.

Hours after the Harunos had gone to bed, the male members of team seven were still lounging around in Sakura’s room. They’d played every game Kakashi could remember from his brief childhood and some he made up on the spot, including a one that involved shadow puppets.

Every time Sakura, or either of his other two students for that matter, began to fall asleep Kakashi was reminding them of why they were there. This always put energy back into Sakura immediately. By eleven o’clock however, Naruto was becoming less and less attentive as his eyelids drooped.

At last it was 11:59 and all three watched the clock on Sakura’s nightstand. “Almost there,” Kakashi said. He eye-smiled at Sakura.


	4. Day 1.3

The alarm clock on Sakura’s nightstand jangled insistently. Her eyes popped open. The morning sunlight was streaming in through her window. _No._ Sakura picked up the alarm clock, slid the window open, and threw it out into the street. “I just won’t go anywhere or do anything,” Sakura said to the empty room. “I can’t be a burden if I’m not there.”

An hour after her alarm went off, her mother was knocking on her door. “Sakura, shouldn’t you be going to meet your team soon?”

“No,” Sakura called back.

“Can I come in?” the woman asked.

“No,” Sakura repeated.

There was silence on the other side of the door. Then, “I’m here if you need me.” Sakura heard her mother’s footsteps retreating down the hall.

The kunoichi lifted up her arms and slammed her fists into the bed. Sakura wanted to get up, to do something, but she’d only get in her team’s way. Kakashi-sensei had handled those ninja just fine until he thought he had to worry about them, about her. She was just a burden. She stared at her ceiling. Another hour passed and there was a knock on her bedroom door. “Sakura?” It was her mother again. “Your team is here to see you.”

“Don’t let them in,” Sakura called.

The door opened and Kakashi stepped in, Naruto tried to squeeze in past him. Sasuke stood in the hall, arms crossed. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Kakashi said, smiling.

“Kakashi-sensei, don’t you know anything about privacy?” Sakura said, covering her head with the blankets in annoyance.

“I thought that went out the window after the mission where we found Naruto washing his only pair of underwear in a stream,” Kakashi said.

Naruto’s face grew red, “Sensei! You said that was a team seven secret!”

“Don’t worry,” Kakashi said brightly, “no one can hear us.”

“Ino,” Sakura said, sitting up suddenly. Team seven looked at her blankly.

Naruto said, “Ino can hear us? How?” He looked around.

Sakura ignored his words and looked around at them. “Out, now, I have to change.”

Kakashi ushered the boys out of the room and he closed the door as he exited himself. Sakura donned her clothes and threw her long pink hair into a high ponytail. When she’d finished she came rushing out of the room. She grasped Naruto and Sasuke’s arms. “Come on, we’ve got to go!” She called a hasty goodbye to her parents as she dragged her teammates out the front door.

“No need to shove me,” Naruto complained.

“Let go of me Sakura,” Sasuke hissed. She didn’t pay any attention to either of them. Kakashi followed slowly, a little bewildered.

Sakura marched the three of them straight to Ino’s house. The kunoichi was putting out flower displays in front of her parents’ shop, just as before. “Ino,” Sakura said pulling the boys up to a halt.

Ino looked up and immediately struck a pose despite her work apron, “good morning Sasuke.” The blond winked at the Uchiha.

Sakura over-road Sasuke’s replying hum. “We don’t have time for this Ino, where’s your father?”

Ino was both startled and irritated. “He’s having breakfast, why?”

“May we come in? It’s important.”

“Sakura,” Kakashi cut in, “maybe you should clue us in on why you need to see Inoichi.”

The pink-haired girl turned to her sensei. “I need him to look into my mind so I don’t have to keep explaining this to you three.”

“Explaining what?” Sasuke asked grumpily.

Sakura just shook her head. Inoichi came down the stairs into the shop followed closely by Ino.

Kakashi addressed the clan head, “I’m so sorry to be bothering you at this early hour.”

Sakura cut him off, speaking bluntly to Ino’s father, “I need you to read my mind, please. It’s not a dream and this will save time.”

“Um,” the blonde man looked from Kakashi to his student, “are you sure?”

Sakura nodded, “this is the only way.”

Inoichi was taken aback. This was indeed an odd request. Most villagers were afraid of him because they thought he could read their minds just by looking at them. Most ninja avoided having their minds picked over at all costs. Sakura looked up at him determinedly though.

“Okay, let’s sit down,” they followed the clan head up the stairs into the dining room of the apartment above the shop.

Ino’s mother passed them on her way down. She was going to open the shop for the day. “I’ll be back down in a minute mom,” Ino said, following the group to the table.

Sakura sat down and Inoichi turned his chair to face her. “Just relax,” he said. He put his hand to her forehead and closed his eyes. The group stood in silence, watching the pair. Suddenly Inoichi opened his eyes. He looked at Kakashi, who had been standing against the far wall. “We need to see the Hokage right away.”

Kakashi simply nodded, hiding his surprise. He pushed off of the wall he’d been leaning against and said, “let’s go,” to his team.

The six of them headed back down the stairs. When Ino tried to follow them into the street her father said, “Ino, stay here.”

“But dad-”

“Help your mother,” he ordered. The breech in security that had allowed the events he’d witnessed in Sakura’s mind to happen was disconcerting at best. Then there was the issue of what the ninja in black were after.

When Inoichi and Sakura had explained everything the Hokage sat back and folded his hands in front of him. “And you have no idea how this cycle began Sakura?” the Third asked.

The kunoichi shook her head. “This is the fourth time I’ve lived this day and nothing I’ve done has made any difference. It was just a regular day of meeting my team for training until the ninja attacked.”

“Nothing extraordinary happened yesterday either,” Kakashi added. “We completed a mission that involved weeding a man’s garden.”

“According to Sakura’s timeline we have an hour before these ninja arrive at the training grounds,” Kakashi said.

The Third nodded, “so we’d better discover why they got that far in the first place. Sakura, you’ll go to the village wall with your team of course,” he gave Kakashi a nod, “and see what happens there so you can report to me when you get to your next today.” The Third seemed to smile at the absurdity of the thought.

Team seven nodded and departed to the part of the village wall closest to their usual training ground.

“So we just have to sit here all day?” Naruto asked yawning.

“The enemy will be here in thirty minutes Naruto,” Sasuke scoffed.

The blonde sat up, “hey that’s right! What do they look like Sakura?”

“They’re in black Naruto,” Kakashi answered for her. “Now pipe down and keep a sharp lookout.”

Thirty minutes later, just like Sakura had known they would, the first wave of the enemy came running silently up to the walls. The wall guard was ready for them and cut them down before they could even begin scaling the structure. The same happened with the second and final wave.

Several of the ninja were caught alive and the prisoners were brought to Inoichi for interrogation. Team seven followed behind the group of prisoners. “That was lame,” Naruto said. “We didn’t even get to fight any of them.”

“Shut up Naruto,” Sakura muttered softly. She was looking at the ground, holding back tears.

There was another hour of waiting in interrogation. Finally Inoichi came into the room they were waiting in. “They’re after one of our forbidden scrolls, trying to restore their clan with it.”

“Why do I feel like I’ve heard that one before?” Kakashi asked. He turned to Sakura but she shook her head. The silver-haired jonin stood up and shrugged. “Well now we just have to wait and see if there are more coming.” He turned to his students, “you guys wouldn’t want some ramen would you?”

Naruto jumped to his feet. “You’ll treat us sensei? Really?”

Kakashi shrugged, “why not? I’ll just get the money back tomorrow. Right Sakura?”

She smiled weakly and said, “yep, just like the last time you treated us.”

Kakashi stared at her. Naruto said, “this is really weird.”

“No kidding,” Sasuke said.


	5. Day 1.4

Sakura’s alarm clock jangled on her nightstand. When she’d gone to bed it had been gone and it took her a minute to remember that she’d thrown it out the window that morning. But unfortunately with today again arriving instead of tomorrow, her alarm clock was on her nightstand at usual. She smacked it to shut it off and sat up, rubbing her eyes. _It’s weird how I always feel like I’ve slept._

She got up and dressed quickly, telling her parents that she loved them as she left. When she arrived at Ino’s house, Ino was out front putting up the flower displays for the day.

“Good morning Ino,” Sakura said, she didn’t wait for a response. “I have orders from the Hokage to bring your father to his office.” It technically wasn’t a lie but today’s uninformed Hokage may find it a bit odd at first.

“Oh okay hold on,” Ino said brushing her hands off on her apron. She ran up the stairs into the apartment and returned with her father.

As the two walked to Hokage Tower, Inoichi said, “Kakashi has you running errands for Lord Third now?”

Sakura chose her words carefully. “No. The Hokage asked me to do this himself. Kakashi will find out about it later today.”

The blond man looked at her. “That’s odd.”

Sakura quickly agreed. “It is an odd situation but it’ll all be explained when we get to his office.”

Things were a little awkward when they did get to the Hokage’s office. The first time this had happened she’d had her sensei’s and the clan head’s support. Now that it was just her, it took a little more convincing to keep the Hokage from sending her away and to get Inoichi to look into her mind.

“There are code words you could have used Sakura,” Inoichi said after he’d read her mind. “Things you could have said that would have made us believe you instantly. I can’t believe we didn’t tell you what they were before.”

They recited the words for her. “If this happens again just tell me that and we’ll get here right away with no arguments,” Inoichi said smiling. With that they proceeded to business. The forbidden scrolls were secured and the wall guards forewarned.

“After the wall guards were notified nothing went amiss?” the Third Hokage asked. Sakura shook her head. “Then why don’t you go train with your team as usual and we’ll see how this plays out.”

Sakura bowed and departed to the usual training ground. As she had expected, Sasuke was there building chakra. She sat down next to him and did the same. As they sat in silence, Naruto joining them several minutes after she did, Sakura thought about all that had happened.

Maybe today would be the last time she’d have today repeated. Maybe tomorrow would actually be tomorrow. She smiled to herself. She had panicked at first but she’d gotten over that and protected her village in the end. She was quite proud of herself.

When Kakashi arrived an hour late and gave his explanation about the flooded road and schoolchildren, they began to spar. Kakashi and Sakura were partnered while Naruto and Sasuke fought each other.

Sakura was careful to avoid sweating too much as she sparred with the jonin. As usual, however, he noticed and found ways around her strategies to not train as hard. By the end of their session her long hair was sticky with sweat and she pulled it back into a ponytail to get it out of her face.

She looked at her sensei, idly reading his book until his students were ready to change partners and begin again. It amazed her how she could interact with the jonin without reacting to that first day anymore. The memories of struggling to find a pulse that wasn’t there or the enemy ninja picking over his dead body still haunted her but she kept them at bay.

Half way through the afternoon Kakashi called it a day. Naruto walked to the side to collect his jacket. Sasuke began to walk home.

“Aren’t you going to treat us to ramen or something?” Sakura called at Kakashi’s retreating back. The boys turned and stared at her.

Kakashi turned around, “um, no?”

“Why would he treat us Sakura? He never does, cheapskate,” the last word was a mutter.

Sakura looked back at Kakashi but he was gone. She’d forgotten that she hadn’t told them that this was the fifth time she’d lived this day and that Kakashi had previously treated them to dinner. _That’s okay though_ , Sakura thought, _because tomorrow’s finally going to come. I did everything I could possibly do._


	6. Day 1.5

Sakura ran down the stairs that morning. She had to be sure. Sakura stuck her head into the kitchen.

“Hey mom, dad,” she tried to act casually. “What day is it?”

Her dad looked at the monthly calendar on the wall. “Tuesday,” he replied.

Sakura giggled. “That’s great,” she said and skipped back up the stairs.

After Sakura had gone upstairs to primp, her mother looked at the calendar herself. “Oh dear,” she told her husband, “you’re wrong. Tomorrow’s Tuesday. It’s Monday today.”

“Oh,” he said squinting at the calendar. “Well either way she has to meet her team so I suppose it doesn’t matter.” 

When Sakura arrived at the training ground Sasuke was there building chakra. She tried chatting with him but he ignored her. Pouting, she began the now familiar morning exercise.

When Naruto and finally Kakashi arrived, they were paired up to spar. “Can’t we do something else sensei?” Sakura complained. “I sparred with you yesterday.”

Kakashi frowned at her. “We went on a mission yesterday Sakura; we didn’t practice sparring.”

It was like a bucket of ice water had suddenly splashed into her stomach. Her jaw went slack and her eyes grew wide. “Sensei, what day is it?”

“It’s Monday,” he began the answer sarcastically but seeing her face pale so suddenly concerned him.

“Sakura are you okay?” Naruto asked.

“We have to run,” she almost whispered. Her eyes began to dart around and she started walking backward very slowly, away from the woods. “I thought it was over.”

“Sakura what’s over?” Kakashi asked, his attention entirely focused on her.

Sasuke’s yell was their only warning. A volley of shuriken shot out of the forest. One caught Kakashi in the side when he moved just a second too late. Sakura was hyperventilating. _This can’t be happening. Not again._

“Find cover, now,” Kakashi said, throwing some shuriken of his own to greet their guests. Naruto grabbed Sakura’s arm, trying to pull her to the buildings nearby. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, she was shaking all over.

Turning around to see why his students weren’t leaving, Kakashi barked, “Sasuke, help Naruto get her out of here.” He quickly looked back to block another volley of shuriken with his kunai. A kunai was flying through the air with a paper bomb attached to it. Kakashi threw a kunai of his own, knocking it off course and away from his students. The paper bomb landed off to their left and exploded. Smoke and dirt filled the air.

Sasuke had Sakura by one arm, Naruto had her other arm and they were rushing to get behind something for cover. Suddenly Sasuke dropped, relinquishing his support and making the other two fall. Sakura rolled over to see a ninja in black holding Sasuke by the neck. Three more were coming toward them.

Naruto threw a kunai, stabbing the man’s arm. The enemy dropped Sasuke and turned his attention to Naruto. Sasuke recovered and slammed a kunai into the ninja’s stomach, gutting him while he was looking at Naruto. Sasuke stood, letting the man fall back, and was struck by three shuriken. One of the missiles had sliced across his neck. His hand instinctively reached up and pressed against the spurting wound.

Naruto shouted something and ran toward their teammate who had dropped to his knees. Just then a bomb went off, knocking Sasuke and Naruto to the ground. Naruto slowly got up, Sasuke didn’t move. Sakura could only hear her own breathing in her ears.

A black-clad ninja appeared out of the smoke, slicing Naruto down. The blond was lying in the grass and slowly turned his head to look at Sakura, his eyes just slits. His mouth, which was leaking blood, was moving but she couldn’t make out the words. 

Sakura felt a kunai slide into her back.


	7. Day 1.6

The alarm clock on Sakura’s night stand jangled out the beginning of an old day. Sakura shot upright in bed, breathing hard, staring at her wall. She threw off her covers and dressed quickly. She threw her unwashed hair into a ponytail as she ran down the stairs and hurried out the front door.

She ran past Ino, through the flower shop and up the staircase. Ino called after her indignantly. She burst into the kitchen and practically shouted the passphrase at Inoichi. The clan head was sitting at the table eating breakfast. He was only shocked for an instant at Sakura’s sudden and unannounced appearance before her words sank in. He set down his glass and gave a hasty apology to his wife before rushing out the door with the pink haired girl.

Later, after Sakura explained it all again for what seemed like the hundredth time, the Third Hokage looked at Sakura with sad eyes. The appropriate orders had been given but the attacking ninja were not the problem now. Inoichi and the Hokage looked at Sakura.

Just then, team seven arrived. Sakura rushed at her teammates, hugging Naruto and Sasuke to the pleasure and displeasure of each respectively. Kakashi looked at the exchange and asked, “what’s this all about?”

Inoichi explained the situation yet again and Sasuke suddenly looked less disgusted with Sakura’s behavior.

“Sakura,” the Third Hokage said. “When you wake up tomorrow, take note of everything. We’ll need all the information we can get to try and get out of this cycle.”

“I could hurry up the process,” Sakura replied, pulling out a kunai. Kakashi snatched it out of her hand. He looked like he wanted to hit her. Sakura shrank from his furious gaze. The temperature in the room seemed to drop suddenly.

“You already know from past experience that your death will not end the cycle,” Kakashi snapped at her. “But if you ever do break free,” he stopped and took a breath. His tone returned to its usual calm, “when you break free, you wouldn’t want to be dead due to being careless.”

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared at Kakashi. They’d never seen him like this before. It was terrifying. Kakashi flicked the kunai down at the floor; it buried itself into the wood to the handle.

“Excuse me,” Kakashi said coolly and left the office.

The room was silent. Heavy thoughts weighed down the quiet. Finally, Sasuke tugged on Naruto’s sleeve, touched Sakura’s arm, and jerked his head at the door. They followed him out quietly.

After searching the village for a few hours, team seven found their sensei at a training ground they’d never seen before. That is, they may have seen it before but Kakashi had seriously altered the landscape so they weren’t sure. Stumps of trees, leaves, and splinters lay everywhere. There were large chunks of the ground simply missing, giving the lawn a pockmarked appearance. Kakashi was seated with his back against a stump. The rest of the tree trunk lay nearby, the green leaves just beginning to wilt.

The trio approached him cautiously. The jonin’s eyes were closed and he was panting. His vest and headband lay on the ground next to him. He looked bare in just his blue and blue outfit.

Sakura didn’t know what to say. An apology would be meaningless, she wasn’t exactly sure what she’d done in the first place. So instead of saying anything, she silently sat down across from him. Naruto and Sasuke also mutely sat. They formed a semi-circle facing the jonin.

The four of them sat like that for a long time. They heard Kakashi’s breathing slow down to a resting level. Still the jonin did not open his eyes. When the sun was directly above them Sakura said, “sensei, are you okay?”

“I’m fine Sakura,” Kakashi lied. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have scared you three like that.”

“You didn’t scare us,” Naruto said boldly.

“You nearly wet yourself, you idiot,” Sasuke said.

“Did not!” Naruto retorted. The boys glared at each other but Sakura wasn’t paying attention.

“I’m sorry sensei, but I’m not sure what I did,” Sakura said openly.

Kakashi was quiet for a long time. He opened his eyes and looked up at the clouds in the sky. “Death is a rather final solution. You end all your tomorrows, all possibilities of making things better, all possibility of hope. That is all swept away. Because even when you’re in a situation where you feel no hope at all and things seem impossible, there’s still the possibility of hope tomorrow. Not so if you end your life.”

The wind blew gently, ruffling Sakura’s restrained hair.

“If you’re going to cut your life short,” Kakashi finished, “do it because you have to for someone else, not for you.”

Sakura stared at him, thinking of when he’d shielded her body from the explosion the first day. She thought of Sasuke and Naruto, slowed down by her helplessness, falling prey to the enemy ninja.

“Why do you three protect me?” Sakura demanded suddenly. Naruto and Sasuke were looking at her again.

Kakashi tore his eyes away from the clouds and looked at her. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Yeah,” Naruto said. “You’re our comrade Sakura.”

Sasuke nodded, his eyebrows furrowed.

“But I was helpless during each attack and even when I kept the attacks from happening at all, I still haven’t been able to break free of the cycle!” Sakura exclaimed. 

“Maybe the attack wasn’t what you were meant to change,” Kakashi offered. He looked at his female student, tying his headband back on. He tilted it so that it covered his left eye. “Maybe things were meant to be that happened the first day,” he said too casually.

Sakura looked up at him quickly. “What? That we all die? I can’t accept that!”

“Then what are you going to do about it?” Kakashi asked, pushing her.

Sakura looked at the ground, then at the trees across the training ground. She had a fierce glint in her eyes, a grim smile on her face. “What I should have been doing all along.”

The kunoichi stood up, tightening her ponytail. “Naruto, Sasuke, spar with me.”


	8. Day 1.14

Sakura’s alarm clock jangled insistently on the kunoichi’s nightstand. Sakura shut it off and stood up, stretching. She took a quick shower, dressed, and pulled her hair back into a tight bun as she hurried down to breakfast.

After the meal she told her parents she loved them and hurried off to Ino’s house. Ino was out front putting a flower display up. “Good morning Ino. I need to see your father, Hokage’s orders. I’ll see myself up thank you,” Sakura said as she was already halfway up the stairs. She knocked on the door at the top and entered, giving the passphrase. She held the door open for the clan leader. She watched as he set his cup down like he always did, apologized to his wife for leaving early, and walked out the door that Sakura held open. 

Sakura convinced him to view her mind as they walked so by the time they reached the Hokage’s office Inoichi was already up to speed. After team seven was summoned and the Hokage explained what was going on, he did as he’d done before, or so Inoichi told him, and suggested team seven train as usual.

“Sensei can I spar with you today?” Sakura asked as they headed to their usual training ground.

Kakashi was taken aback by this request, as usual. Sakura was only barely starting to pick up on his reactions to things. It helped to already know how he was going to respond before he knew himself. “Of course,” Kakashi said smoothly.

Sakura insisted on sparring with Kakashi every day after only two mock battles total with each of her teammates. The reason was simple, her teammates were inexperienced and when faced with a new, unknown situation they reacted the exact same way every time. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem with the enemies they’d faced so far but for Sakura is was boring. Each day she surprised them by being better than they remembered. Each day they reacted to this surprise by using the exact same moves only with more force. Fighting with Kakashi, however, was entirely different.

Although surprised by her sudden advancement in taijutsu, she watched his eye carefully and started to notice how it would widen slightly, Kakashi would just make things more challenging for her. The first few moves were always the same. She realized that he used them to feel out where her skills had improved. Once he found what she’d enhanced, he’d test her in another way.

She was getting faster, stronger. She was able to spar for longer and longer each day. One day, when she and Kakashi had finished, she turned to see Sasuke and Naruto sitting on the grass watching her.

“Is this a stadium?” Kakashi asked, not even out of breath.

“No,” Naruto answered.

“Then stop watching and start running laps,” Kakashi said. He turned to Sakura, she’d been mouthing the orders along with him.

“I know. Me too,” she said trying not to laugh at Kakashi’s expression.

“I know you’ve lived this day before but cut your sensei a break,” Kakashi said. “I feel like I’m teaching in circles.”

Sakura ran off to catch up to Sasuke and Naruto. After about a dozen laps around the training field, Kakashi would have them break for lunch. The break was a couple of hours, since they had to cool down and then eat.

“What am I about to say Sakura?” Naruto asked.

“That.” Sakura responded.

“What?” Naruto asked.

“You ask that every day, ‘what am I about to say’, then we have this conversation about it.”

“Oh, sorry,” Naruto said scratching the back of his head.

“You’ve apologized for it before too.”

Naruto growled in frustration.

“Now Sasuke’s going to make a comment about how we should both be quiet.”

Sasuke shut his mouth quickly. Naruto and Sakura both saw it though and laughed. “Was not,” the Uchiha muttered.

After lunch they returned to the training grounds. Kakashi had them practicing with weapons. Sakura was improving on her target practice but was still imprecise, meaning that she’d generally hit around the center but her groupings were very sporadic. Every day her groupings got better, tighter. Kakashi wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Your shuriken throwing is getting better,” Sasuke said awkwardly one day.

Sakura looked at him in shock and blushed; this had not happened before. She’d been so focused she hadn’t noticed him watching her.

“Thank you,” she replied and went back to her throwing. Even though she didn’t retain the muscles from each previous day, Sakura’s confidence grew. She believed she could run further, so she tried harder. She began to realize that the problem wasn’t her body, it was in her mind. She thought she had been good _enough_. She thought she couldn’t catch up to the boys. Yet after each day she saw more and more that she could.

After practicing with her teammates, Sakura went back to her home to study. There was still a lot to learn even though they were out of the academy. She scoured the library, attempting to read one book each night. If she didn’t finish, she’d have to go find the same book again the next day.

Several days went on like this, until one day, Sakura had an idea.


	9. Day 1.20

Sakura’s alarm jangled on the bedside table. She shut it off and went through her morning routine in silence. She’d made a decision. She may be stuck in this cycle forever, but there was something she needed to know.

The birds were singing and the sun was shining as she made her way down the street. Ino was in front of the flower shop, setting up a display for the day.

“Good morning Ino,” Sakura said as she passed by.

“Good morning Sakura,” Ino said. She would have said something about Sakura’s “new” hairstyle but Sakura kept walking.

At the training ground, Sasuke was sitting on the ground building chakra. “Good morning Sasuke,” Sakura said and sat down next to him. She closed her eyes and began to work on building her own chakra.

Sasuke opened an eye to look at her and seeing that she wasn’t going to continue beyond a greeting, sighed in relief.

A few minutes later, Naruto arrived. He joined their activity. Without opening her eyes Sakura said, “good morning Naruto.”

The blonde started and then replied, “good morning Sakura.” After a moment he said, “good morning Sasuke.”

Sasuke replied with a hum. He did not open his eyes.

An hour later, on the dot, Kakashi arrived. Before he could launch into his story about the flooded road and school children, Sakura sat bolt upright. _I forgot about the wall guards! They’ll be killed!_

She got up and took off at top speed toward the wall. _I can’t believe I forgot about that! I just wanted to test myself, not get more people hurt! Then again_ , her mind raced as the greenery flew by, _they’ll be alive tomorrow._ Then she remembered what Kakashi had said about life and death. _No, even though they’ll be fine tomorrow, I can’t just let that happen to them._

“Sakura,” Kakashi said. He was somehow right beside her even though she had had a huge head start. “What is it?”

_Something else I have to improve on,_ Sakura thought. Out loud she said, “the wall guards are under attack.” She tried to put on a burst of speed to get ahead of him so she didn’t have to explain any further but he matched her new pace. _This won’t work,_ she thought, _he’ll try to stop me or question me about how I know that. We’ll never get there in time._ But Kakashi did not try to stop her. In fact, he was easily pulling ahead of her, making a beeline for the wall.

Sakura could hear it now, the clang of metal on metal. She sprinted up the wall but Kakashi was way ahead of her. The sound of two new pairs of feet also mounting the wall behind her told her Naruto and Sasuke were on her heels. _I really need to work on my speed. Maybe if I use my chakra to-_ her thoughts were cut off as she crested the wall.

The two guards for this section of the wall were holding their own but Kakashi was in the thick of the fight. He dodged and weaved through the ninja in black like they were nothing. _I really need to learn how he does that, he’s more graceful than_ me _!_

Sakura shook herself and pulled out a kunai. A ninja in black came running at her, she blocked his kunai with hers and dispatched him as another enemy came at her. Naruto and Sasuke were on the wall now. Naruto blindsided the man Sakura was fighting and he went flying off of the wall. Sasuke was protecting Sakura’s right side so she threw her kunai at a ninja heading for one of the wall guards. She’d meant it more as a distraction than anything but it hit him in the shoulder. This fresh wound distracted him and in that moment the wall guard killed him. The ground was slippery with blood so Sakura used her chakra to keep her steady as she strode forward. Another enemy ninja attacked her. She ducked under his arm as he swung his kunai and punched him in the stomach. She followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent him sailing off of the wall.

Acting as a wedge, the three genin moved forward together, stopping every so often to take on a new enemy. Explosions boomed nearby but the three hardly noticed. Sakura was beginning to tire. _This is completely different than sparring with Kakashi-sensei!_ Still she pushed on, using her new muscle memory and training to work past the pain. _If I can’t finish this then I’m dead. It’s all or nothing._ As Sakura knocked the ninja in front of her unconscious, she didn’t see any more enemies in front of her. Sasuke had also just finished off his opponent and he saw Sakura turn, fear in her eyes.

The enemy that appeared behind them had his kunai raised, his target was Naruto. The blonde was struggling at the edge. One of the explosions had cut away a piece of the large stones that made up the wall and the wall was crumbling under Naruto’s feet. He was crouched awkwardly, using his chakra to keep himself from sliding over the edge, but his excessive chakra was also breaking the wall up even further.

“Naruto,” Sakura cried reaching out to him. She wasn’t close enough and Naruto didn’t see the enemy ninja coming. Kakashi came out of nowhere, kicking the man in black into empty space. The jonin then reached out with a kunai still in his hand. He grabbed Naruto by the neck of his jacket and hauled him onto solid ground, careful to avoid cutting his student with the blade.

“Are you three okay?” Kakashi said. He was scanning the area. One of the wall guards was nursing a cut shoulder. The other was heading down the far side of the wall.

“We’re fine,” Sasuke said.

Kakashi nodded, “good, stay here.” With that he headed down the far side of the wall as well.

“We’re not babies,” Naruto muttered as he stood up.

“He knows that,” Sakura said. “But this divides us up equally. A wall guard and Kakashi went down to check out the situation on the ground. The other wall guard and the rest of us are up here keeping a lookout. It makes sense.”

Sasuke hummed ambiguously. 

As they stood watch on the wall, other Leaf ninja began arriving. Some took away the prisoners, others, the dead bodies. Sakura began to get anxious when Kakashi didn’t come back right away. When he did return he hurried over to them, appraising them with a critical eye. Sakura looked down. Her red dress was stained with blood as were her arms and, she imagined, her face. She looked at Sasuke and Naruto and they looked even worse with their separate color choices. Sakura spoke up, “we’re fine sensei, really.”

Kakashi nodded, “we need to go give our report.”

Team seven followed their sensei back down the wall and through the village on a route that Kakashi knew. It avoided people as much as possible. Even though Kakashi looked relatively the same, besides a few specks of blood, his students were a sight to behold and would frighten most civilians.

As they walked Kakashi said, “Sakura, how did you know that the wall guards were being attacked?”

Sakura almost froze in her tracks but stayed calm. Then an idea occurred to her, “I had a dream about it. When you said that you were helping schoolchildren, that’s what you said just before the ninja attacked, in my dream.” She wasn’t sure if she should smile or not. Her mouth sort of turned up on one side.

“Okay,” Kakashi said, looking at her suspiciously. “Be sure to put that in your report.”

After the meeting with the Hokage, team seven was happy to go to their respective homes and wash up. “Meet back at the training ground at five,” Kakashi said to their retreating backs.

The three genin groaned and turned back to complain but Kakashi had already teleported away. 

Washed and changed, the three genin arrived at the training ground once more. Sakura was wearing her hair in a pony tail rather than a bun. Fifteen minutes after five Kakashi appeared.

“You’re late,” Sakura and Naruto yelled.

“But only just,” Kakashi eye-smiled at them. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m very proud of how you three handled yourselves today. And tonight I thought we could do something special.”

Naruto jumped excitedly. “Are you treating us to dinner sensei?! Please?!”

“Yes, I’m treating you,” Kakashi said. He expertly leaned away from Naruto’s over-excited cheers. “But only this once. Maybe I’ll do it again if you three pass the chunin exams.”

Sakura’s eyes widened but then fell. But Sasuke looked at their sensei intently, “you’re going to let us compete in the next chunin exams?”

Naruto paused in his pre-dinner celebration long enough to hear “chunin exams”. Kakashi was suddenly regretting telling them this all at once. Naruto went into a fresh verse of cheers. 

“You’re going to let us compete in the next chunin exams sensei?” Sakura asked quietly.

“After what you three did today and our mission in the Land of Wave,” Kakashi said. “I think you three are ready.”

Naruto beamed under Kakashi’s praise.

“When are they taking place?” Sasuke asked seriously.

_Not tomorrow,_ Sakura thought sadly, _or the day after that, or the day after that._

They talked about the exams, the day’s events, and things that Sakura had almost forgotten about because they’d just happened “yesterday”. The dinner together was nice but every time someone brought up the chunin exams Sakura would stare at her bowl and play with her food.

It was dark by the time they left the restaurant. As the genin began to split up, Kakashi called Sakura back.

“Sakura,” Kakashi said, “I’m sure you’ll do well in the chunin exams. There’s no need to worry.”

The kunoichi almost laughed. He knew she was upset but didn’t know why. He couldn’t possibly know.

When Sakura didn’t answer Kakashi remained silent. Finally she said, “good night sensei.” As she walked home she thought about that first horrible day, but also about the second day, and the third. This whole thing was a terrible nightmare. Kakashi would tell them about the chunin exams tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. She’d never get to compete or test herself but have to act excited every time he told them about it. She’d keep improving as a ninja, preparing for a chunin exam that would never come, working hard with teammates that will never improve beyond the one day they have together. _My brain hurts,_ Sakura thought, _I need to go to bed._

Sakura walked into her bedroom and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, shaking it loose. When she was ready, she slipped between the covers and dropped to sleep almost immediately.


	10. Day 2

Sakura’s alarm clock jangled next to her head on the nightstand. Sakura reached over, hit it, and got up. The sun was shining in through her window. After her usual morning routine, she headed for the training ground.

As she walked by the flower shop, Ino was out front putting out displays. Sakura thought about running up to see Inoichi about the enemy ninja. Then she thought, _forget it. I’ll warn Kakashi early this time and then the one wall guard doesn’t even have to be cut. At least sensei will be proud of us again after the fight._

As Sakura entered the field of grass that made up the majority of the training ground, she stopped. Sasuke was not on his usual patch of grass building chakra. Searching frantically, she spied him over by the target posts. He was throwing shuriken. _Sasuke’s throwing shuriken. Sasuke’s throwing shuriken!_

Sakura ran over to him and shouted, “Sasuke, you’re throwing shuriken!”

Sasuke sighed and muttered, “you’ll make an excellent ninja Sakura. Your power of deduction is impressive.”

Then he had to stop muttering because Sakura got there sooner than he’d expected. “Sasuke, what day is it?!”

His teammate looked frantic and was grabbing his arms. “Tuesday, it’s Tuesday, let go of me.” 

“It’s Tuesday?! It’s Tuesday!” Sakura screamed, jumping up and down, still not letting go of Sasuke’s arms. She pulled him into a hug.

“Watch it, I have shuriken in my hands still,” Sasuke said holding them away from her. He pulled free of her grip.

“This is amazing!” Sakura said. “I can’t believe it. Naruto!” The blonde had just entered the field and Sakura sprinted over to him. “Naruto it’s Tuesday!”

“Um, yeah,” Naruto replied. She threw her arms around him. Naruto blushed.

Sasuke walked over, “she’s really excited about it being Tuesday for some reason.”

“Because it’s the most amazing day of the week!” Sakura cried jumping up and down. “And,” she gasped, “we’re going to be in the chunin exams! We’re totally going to kick butt.”

Naruto spoke to Sasuke out of the corner of his mouth, “is she feeling alright?”

Sasuke shrugged.

Sakura kept celebrating until Kakashi arrived thirty minutes later. “Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura screamed upon seeing him. She attacked him as well. Kakashi went very still when she hugged him. “Oh sensei you freak out like that every time!”

Kakashi looked at the boys for help but it was way funnier when it happened to someone else. They watched on in glee. “Sakura are you feeling okay?”

“I’m great sensei, everything’s great!” Sakura beamed at him.

“Good because I wanted to talk to you about that dream you said you had,” Kakashi continued, prying her from his person.

Sakura’s eyes widened even more. “You remember what I said yesterday! Oh sensei I missed you!” She hugged him again.

“You saw me yesterday,” Kakashi sighed, resigning to the hug.

“I know but that was yesterday and yesterday was horrible!” Her voice was muffled when she said this because her face was pressed into Kakashi’s vest.

“Sakura, are you feeling okay?” Kakashi asked again. He pulled her free of him at last and felt her forehead. “You feel a little warm.”

“It’s because she’s been jumping around for the last hour,” Naruto said, concerned that someone was more hyper than he was.

“Can we train now?” Sasuke asked. He sounded bored.

“How about some sparring?” Kakashi asked. “Two on one. Sasuke, you’re first against Naruto and Sakura.”

Sakura got her game face on, “you’re going down.”

Naruto looked at her and grinned. Then he turned to their dark-haired teammate, “yeah Sasuke, you’d better watch it. We’re taking you down.”

Sasuke had a tiny smile on his face, “you can try.”

The mock fight began. Sakura faked an attack while Naruto charged forward. This split Sasuke’s concentration and he wasn’t ready for Naruto’s second kick which knocked him off balance. Then Sakura came in from the left with a punch. Sasuke dodged too late and she clipped him, sending him sprawling. They let him recover, wiping his jaw with his hand, a fire in his eyes.

Sasuke went on the offensive, shooting a fireball at them. Naruto jumped away but Sakura appeared to get burnt to a crisp. Sasuke saw that Kakashi made no move, however, which meant she’d substituted herself. He was focusing too much on the fake Sakura though. The real one came flying down from above, kunai in hand. Sasuke pulled a kunai of his own and blocked hers, throwing her off but then Naruto was behind him, kunai to the Uchiha’s throat. Sakura got up. All three of them were smiling. Even Sasuke was smiling, much to Kakashi’s surprise.

“Okay, round two. Naruto, you’re against Sakura and Sasuke.” Naruto’s clones helped him a lot but eventually Sakura and Sasuke beat their teammate. After that Sakura fought Sasuke and Naruto. By the time they were finished they were all panting.

“You all are making excellent progress, especially you Sakura. You’ve really been practicing,” Kakashi said, pleased with her improvement.

Sakura beamed under her sensei’s praise. She thought, _you have no idea._

The End


End file.
